News Digest

Daredevil walks tightrope between Chicago skyscrapers blindfolded

Daredevil Nik Wallenda wowed Chicago and the world on Sunday with two hair-raising skyscraper crossings on the high wire without a safety net or a harness. Thousands of cheering fans packed the streets around the city’s Marina City towers to watch the 35-year-old heir to the Flying Wallendas’ family business complete the back-to-back walks including one wearing a blindfold. As he stepped from the wire after completing the second leg, he tore off his blindfold and waved to the crowd of thousands below who erupted in cheers.

I love Chicago and Chicago definitely loves me. What an amazing roar!

Nik Wallenda, daredevil, high wire artist, and author

He took six and a half minutes to walk the first 138-metre stretch, and about a minute to cross the second 28.6-metre rope blindfolded. Wallenda has said he next wants to recreate a 366-metre-long high-wire walk made famous by his great-grandfather, who fell to his death doing a tightrope stunt in Puerto Rico when he was 73. Karl Wallenda’s stunt at Tallulah Falls Gorge in Georgia included two headstands on the high wire.